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League Cup: Will another giant fall?
Sazali Abdul Aziz
info@sleague.com
First it was Home United. A day later, Tampines Rovers followed suit.
Come Monday, will S.League champions SAFFC be the last of the ‘Big Three’ to be dumped out of the League Cup?
The Warriors host Sengkang Punggol in their quarterfinal at Choa Chu Kang Stadium, and there are whispers that an upset might be on the cards.
For the superstitious, the signs are fairly ominous. Already, both Home and Tampines have fallen at home – to Gombak United and Woodlands Wellington – and failed to score despite dominating their respective quarterfinals.
If you are a bit more pragmatic, then it might interest you that SAFFC will field a team that is less than their best for this clash, particularly after travelling to Zhengzhou to grind out a goalless draw with Chinese Super League side Henan Jianye in the AFC Champions League (ACL) in midweek.
Shaiful Esah and John Wilkinson are out with knee injuries sustained before that game, while defenders Noh Rahman and Daniel Bennett, plus winger Mustaqim Manzur, are away on international duty with the Singapore squad.
“Minus the national players and the injured players, I think it will be a good game for the other players in the squad,” opined SAFFC coach Richard Bok.
“Last year we finished second in the League Cup, and hopefully this year we can do one better.”
Despite characteristically playing his cards close to his chest, Bok revealed that he will start with his first-choice strikeforce of Indra Sahdan Daud and Uruguayan Federico Martinez, and that Korean winger Park Tae Won will also be drafted into the side.
Bok, however, evaded attempts to identify which foreigner will make way for Park, given that the Warriors can only field four of their five.
Having spent 24 of their last 96 hours in the air travelling to and from China, Bok’s main priority heading into the match is his players’ physical condition.
He said: “We’ve had training yesterday (Saturday) and today and it has been good. It’s all about maintaining fitness for us now.”
Sengkang coach Aide Iskandar, though, does not believe last year’s League Cup runners-up are ripe for the picking.
“SAFFC are a good team, and they have good reserves on the bench who can step up,” he said.
“It will not be easy. It will be the first time we play a big team this season, so I think it’s a good test to see how far we’ve come.”
One area where Aide has some reservations about is his team’s profligacy in front of goal. Sengkang carved open the Beijing Guoan defence time and again in their preliminary round match last week, but needed a Mamadou Diallo equaliser in injury time to take the game into extra time.
They then scored another two goals in those 30 minutes, but it could have been so very different if that first goal had never come.
“I think we all know about this (issue),” the former national skipper noted. “We’ve created many chances, but our finishing could be better.
“This is especially so against the bigger teams, who will limit our chances. Whoever takes their chances tomorrow will come out on top – that will be crucial.”
Aide’s task will be made perhaps a bit more difficult without Moussa Keita, who is out with a groin strain. The Guinean striker has been spearheading the Sengkang attack in their four games so far, but has only managed to get on the scoresheet once.
The Dolphins though have a far more prolific player available – Canadian winger Jordan Webb. The 21-year-old has scored in every league game so far this season, and will be looking to keep up that remarkable record.
On the other end of the field, Aide will have Abdoulaye Diallo and skipper Nor Azli Yusoff back from injury to bolster his defence. The pair had a run-out with the Sengkang Prime League team over the weekend, and came out of the match unscathed.
The League Cup is the only domestic trophy that Bok has not won as head coach yet, and standing in their way now is Sengkang, who will be out to prove they are no longer the whipping boys of Singapore football.
And what better way for the Dolphins to do it than with a giant-killing feat at Choa Chu Kang? |
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